Statistics from The Metro Milwaukee MLS show some good things happening, and as has been typical in real estate for a while now, some bad. A quick overview of the metro market as of January 2009 follows:
The number of new listings is down. That is good news considering there is still a large inventory of homes for sale.
Pending and closed sales are down, but they always are in January. They are down a little more than usual.
The number of days on market is equal to what it was in January of 2007. Overall, Days on Market for 2008 was an average of 101 versus 91 in 2007 and 82 in 2006.
The Housing affordability index is way up - to 159. This means the median household income is 159% of what is needed to purchase a median priced home. This is obviously good news for buyers- coupled with the new home buyer tax credit that does not require repayment.
The seasonality of real estate rarely changes as you look from year to year. January is always the low spot of the year for both new listings and sales. Then in February, new listings jump dramatically and sales come up. May and June are usually the top of the market. What happens in May and June should be starting now and we have heard from many offices and agents that things have picked up at open houses. Here's hoping for a good year, one that will be off the charts - in a good way! We can hope!
